Incompetent Recruiters - any similar experiences?

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Highly Skilled
in Eden Prairie, Minnesota

96 months ago

I recently had some very strange dealings with Northrup Grumman (Xetron) in Cincinnati. They are trying to fill an INFOSEC role that requires a high degree of skill and experience along with the highest clearances to boot.

After several email exchanges and phone conversations with a contract recruiter (not even an NG employee), it became very clear that these guys didn't understand the protocol. They bumbled along and eventually ticked me off to the point where I told them off. Working INFOSEC is spooky enough. At least they should have recruiters that understand the sensitivities.

Yes. I just started a new string. They called my husband wanting to schedule a phone interview, left no contact information, and never called him back. Do you know who we might contact to try to figure out what's going on?

Like most of the big US defense contractors, Northrup Grumman has lots of staff RIP (retired in place). There isn't much we can do about it, really no accountability either. No one to contact, no one who cares. Maybe that is why Uncle Sam is starting to send the work over seas (where did the new contract go for Marine One?).

Highly Skilled in Eden Prairie, Minnesota said: I recently had some very strange dealings with Northrup Grumman (Xetron) in Cincinnati. They are trying to fill an INFOSEC role that requires a high degree of skill and experience along with the highest clearances to boot.

After several email exchanges and phone conversations with a contract recruiter (not even an NG employee), it became very clear that these guys didn't understand the protocol. They bumbled along and eventually ticked me off to the point where I told them off. Working INFOSEC is spooky enough. At least they should have recruiters that understand the sensitivities.

Anyone else encounter incompetent recruiters at Northrup Grumman?

Good thing you didn't get the job, you can't even spell the company name correctly.

Although I'm not the original poster for this thread, I have to disagree with your statement. Northrop was actually quite interested in my husband, whose credentials were spot on for the job. It's just that the recruiter FORGOT to forward his info to the hiring mananger, who then took a couple weeks to call hubby. Manager says he wants to schedule an in-person interview, and hubby gets a call a week later from a coordinator who says "you'll have your interview in a month". Obviously, in the meanwhile, my very well-qualified husband took a job somewhere else.

Yes, hubby COULD have waited for Northrop because he was already employed, but he just didn't get the feeling that Northrop would really treat him very well just based on the way he was made such a low priority during the interview process.

Although Northrop has a very good reputation as an employer, and I recommended that hubby wait for them, they are really shooting themselves in the foot by treating prospective employees as if they were a bunch of no-talent hacks.

Kim in Compton, California said: I've just dealt with the normal HR people who don't really understand the technical parts of the job. That happens at almost every company though.

Dear Kim,

I found the same. when I was laid off, the HR person was to "help me find another job". She kept suggesting object oriented coding jobs in Denver. I don't do coding, my resume doesn't even mention that. However I strongly feel that HR people are trained by the book in HR and don't understand the technical aspects of the jobs they are trying to match. I myself would look at a former employee in that area of expertise (e.g., IT) and hire them as the HR recruiter. Someone that, from the inside understands the needs and requirements of the various positions.

Does ng in bethpage, Long Island still have any military planes flying in there? I know that they had 2 or 3 active airstrips when it was run by Grumman many yrs ago. I heard that it only is used now for helicopters for the Nassau County police department. Any info would be appreciated.
Donna

Highly Skilled in Eden Prairie, Minnesota said: I recently had some very strange dealings with Northrup Grumman (Xetron) in Cincinnati. They are trying to fill an INFOSEC role that requires a high degree of skill and experience along with the highest clearances to boot.

After several email exchanges and phone conversations with a contract recruiter (not even an NG employee), it became very clear that these guys didn't understand the protocol. They bumbled along and eventually ticked me off to the point where I told them off. Working INFOSEC is spooky enough. At least they should have recruiters that understand the sensitivities.

Anyone else encounter incompetent recruiters at Northrup Grumman?

That office has had the same openings listed for years. I know several people who have interviewed there and they are looking for cheaper, younger people they can teach, not really experienced people. Personally, I think the problem is Xetron, not really NG.

I found the same. when I was laid off, the HR person was to "help me find another job". She kept suggesting object oriented coding jobs in Denver. I don't do coding, my resume doesn't even mention that. However I strongly feel that HR people are trained by the book in HR and don't understand the technical aspects of the jobs they are trying to match. I myself would look at a former employee in that area of expertise (e.g., IT) and hire them as the HR recruiter. Someone that, from the inside understands the needs and requirements of the various positions.

Why would an experience IT profession want to work for HR??? They are bunch of losers.

Northrop Grumman Bethpage (formerly Grumman (nickname Grumman Iron Works))is no longer the manufacturer of aircraft that it use to be. You will remember that in the 90's Northrop purchased Grumman. It was not a merger. Northrop purchased Grumman and sought to keep the good will associated with the Grumman brand and the US Navy so Northrop changed its name to Northrop Grumman.

Northrop always wanted to shut down the Grumman headquarters in Bethpage Long Island. However, never ending personnel changes made it a one day you in vouge and the next day you're not type of environment until before you know it our guys in charge and we're still around.

However, it is a shadow of its former self. Gone, and gone forever are the days of manufacturing airplanes. The last aircraft - the E-2C/D is now fully assembled in St. Augustine Florida and then sold off to the Gov't from that same site.

What is left in Bethpage is some contracts and pricing, some procurement jobs, and some engineering jobs, maybe some R&D jobs.

Everything else is gone. Anything that would be production or produced would be transferred out of the area.

I was recruited by NG way back in April while living in another city. I think they picked my resume up on Monster. I was relocating back to Atlanta in late-June or early July and started my search early. First the recruiter was very confused about my locale despite repeated phone calls and emails. I even sent the requested softcopy resume with cover letter outlining my situation and timeline. He then called back and told me to be on stand-by for a fly-in the following Monday or Tuesday. I'm a contractor, so I blocked out the time with my current gig and told him I'd wait for his call. Three weeks later I get an "are you in Atlanta yet for a local interview" call. Well, no, it's the first week in May. He then says they are pretty desperate, can I move up my arrival date? No, contractor here, I consider bailing early unethical. He then tells me he's set up a phone interview with the client hiring manager for two days later and will send me an email with the exact time and some HR documents. About a week later he calls after 8 at night, apologizes and says she was too busy, but he'll reschedule. Another month goes by (during which time I do move to Atlanta) and he calls to see if I'm available for a same day or early the following morning interview and seemed very put off that I was in the middle of a short-term contract and not available without more notice.

"I thought you just moved here, how could you already have something?"

It's been two months, guy, I certainly wasn't putting everything else on hold on a maybe and a handful of sketchy communications. The same job is still open, or so it would seem from online searches, but I'm no longer interested. I've gone through similar with other big consulting firms and chalk it up to contract recruiters (he admitted he wasn't a NG employee). It's about volume with those folks; they are called headhunters for a reason and are paid accordingly.

Bud in Glen Burnie, Maryland said: Yes...NG recruiters do not seem interested in filling positions. They don't return emails or phone calls. I wonder how this company puts up with this

- I ran into the same issue, on several ocassions, the recruiter would contact me, sent me questionnaires to fill and send back which I did. I would wait a week or longer, when I get no reply I then write back to see if someone had received what I sent and asked if it was received and if there is anything else I could provide. No reply, no calls, nothing!! And this has happened through several different recruiters. I think this is bad business practice and rather poor communication etiquette. It makes you wonder, do I really want to work for this company? Afterall, the recruiter is like an embassador to the company, the first person you come in contact with who represent the company. Piss poor in my book. The upper management needs to address this issue. Recruiters seem to act like, people looking for a job have no choice but to deal with their lack of sense and fair treatment of any kind because simply, the jobb seeker must suck it up because they want the job. But, in reality, the job seeker could very well seek for job else where and that is a strong potential that the company could lose a great candidate.

I was submitted for a contract job by a recruiter in November, 2014. I have been in touch with this recruiter every week since the submission date. Then last week I got an "out of office" reply from this recruiter stating that she would be out of the office until today. Today she sends me a note informing me that she has no idea why, but the job to which I was submitted in November was now closed. Gee. What a coincidence. She disappears for a vacation and somehow we miss the opportunity for an interview and selection while she is away. I'm trying to figure out why no one else in this company picked up the slack and filled in for her while she was gone. Could it be that she was too worried about losing her commission?

What really bothers me about this is that this is the 3rd time in the past 2 years that this has happened to me (different contractors/recruiters though). And to make things even more frustrating, I was very suited for this role, and it called upon all of my skills and background. I was very excited about it and was really looking forward to the interview...studying and practicing answers to all sorts of interview questions. I have been out of work since September 2013...what the hell does one have to do to get a job in the world these days?

I am a Senior Technical & Engineering Recruiter with strong cross-industrial, national & international experience. Additionally, I have experience in start ups, small, medium, and large companies. The large companies are not as nimble and tougher to keep the communication flow moving when it comes to recruitment and sales but, it can be done.

Recruiting candidates is very labor intensive. Each candidate requires a lot of back and forth communication to keep them connected to the process and the hiring manager. Often along the way more information will reach the recruiter from the hiring manager where the requirements are tweaked that much more that it eliminates what otherwise looked like a great candidate. Because of our litigious society, when a candidate is eliminated, the hiring entity is not allowed to tell them why because they may become angry.

I approach it by helping the candidate to separate their skills from who they are personally. The skills are the marketable commodity with a price tag attached. If someone else comes along with a value-add skill or experience, and they come in at the same price, all things being equal the company is going to "buy" that candidate over the other. It is a transaction. Now, people's behavior being unpredictable, generally speaking, and their value system and beliefs unknown until they become "known" over time (3 to 6 to 9 mos to several years), their candidacy may or may not be a good "buy" in the end but, even with behavioral testing, there is a very imperfect process to determine this. All of this takes time and it's a relative gamble in the end.

Now, when it comes to incompetent recruiters or recruiting systems, it is considered overhead and the profession is not very respected because it isn't rocket science; HOWEVER, there is such a thing as a recruiter who is an excellent researcher, understands technical concepts, cares about people, cares about organizational success because it creates jobs.

But, as in all professionals there are the top 10% and the top 20%. Lots of people go into professions who are not a fit. It is luck of the draw who you get as a recruiter. Then you have to deal with the systems in place to get you through the pipeline. THEN, even if you get the job, you must manage your expectations because there will be people who cause problems on the job. I guarantee this! :-) in any company, anywhere.

It's a numbers game but if you can follow career paths for which you have a passion and have values around it, you will become very good at it which, hopefully, will not get you bullied for being good (that's always a challenge) and it will serve you in good stead in spite of the idiot factor.